The Coast Guard offloaded 14,000 pounds of seized cocaine from the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton in Port Everglades, Fla., on Tuesday.
The seven tons of drugs, worth an estimated $190 million wholesale, were recovered in seven separate drug smuggling vessel interdictions by the Coast Guard in waters off of Mexico, Central and South America.
The Hamilton was involved in two seizure cases, and the Coast Guard Cutter Northland also had two cases. The Coast Guard Cutters Diligence, Venturous, and Harriet Lane also contributed to the seizures with one case each.
“The hard work of all our servicemen and women, along with our allied partners, directly contributed to the interdiction of 7 tons of cocaine at sea,” said Capt. Mark Gordon, cutter Hamilton commanding officer. “It truly is a team effort stopping these drugs from entering the United States, but more important than the drugs themselves are the arrests and the linkages these cases represent and the steps closer to dismantling the criminal networks that tried to move them into the United States.”
“These transnational criminal organizations would have used the illicit proceeds from these drugs to not only expand their networks but to continue to sow violence, corruption, and a break down in the rule of law throughout the world,” he said.
Read more at the U.S. Coast Guard.
